Revised by Dennis Olson (10/25)
SUMMARY
The Book of Judges presents the story of the individual tribes that became Israel from the death of JoshuaThe successor of Moses, Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan. More to the birth of SamuelThe judge who anointed the first two kings of Israel. More. Its title comes from the individuals called by God to be “judges” (charismatic leaders) of Israel, delivering the people from the oppression of neighboring peoples and leading them in faithful obedience to the Lord. Within the framework of Deuteronomistic history, Judges illustrates the dire consequences of the lack of faithful leadership and paves the way for the discussion of monarchy in the Books of Samuel and Kings.
SO WHAT?
Judges makes very clear that everything depends upon faithful obedience to the Lord. At the same time we see God repeatedly offering the people a fresh start. This tension between God’s justice and God’s mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God’s mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More will continue throughout the Deuteronomistic historyDeuteronomistic history refers to the narrative contained in the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings. This narrative, probably written in the age of Israel’s exile (mid-6th century B.C.E.), recounts Israel’s history prior to the exile. More and the rest of the Old Testament. Contemporary Christians live within this tension as well.
WHERE DO I FIND IT?
Judges is the seventh book of the Old Testament. It follows Joshua and precedes RuthThe great-grandmother of David. More.
WHO WROTE IT?
Jewish tradition identifies Samuel as the author of Judges, but there is no evidence to support this claim. Various older traditions have been gathered together and edited by various writers over the course of several centuries of time.
WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN?
Judges contains some of the oldest material in the Bible. An oral version of the “Song of DeborahAn Israelite prophetess and influential judge. More” (Judges 5) may be as old as 1125 BCE, based upon the archaeological evidence of the destruction of Taanach and Megiddo; however, the refrains of the narrator, “In those days there was no king in Israel” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), and mention of the captivity of Israel (18:30) and the destruction of Shiloh (18:31) indicate a much later time. Thus, Judges contains very old traditional material as well as later theological reflection that came together over a period of several centuries with a final editing in the sixth or fifth century BCE.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The Book of Judges is a Deuteronomic interpretation of Israel’s history from the death of Joshua up to the birth of Samuel that displays their need for a centralized government and faithfulness to Israel’s God. The exploits of local charismatic heroes are collected to portray a downward spiral from initial successes to ultimate failures of the people due to their disobedient worship of other gods and their failure to join together as one people.
HOW DO I READ IT?
Judges is a collection of older stories about tribal heroes that has been structured around a recurrent formula of apostasy, oppression, and deliverance. As this formula deteriorates we are meant to see Israel’s ever-worsening decline. The editorial comment with which the book closes, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (21:25; compare 17:6; 18:1; 19:1), lifts up Israel’s failure to deal with external enemies and internal dissention. The book is thus a theological exposé of that failure and a rationale for the centralized government of the monarchy. Later in Israel’s history, the institution of kingship in Israel and JudahJudah was the name of Jacob’s fourth son and one of the 12 tribes. More disappeared after the Babylonian destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged… More (587 BCE). Even more so in this post-exilic (post-587 BCE) period, the themes of Judges (such as the conflict and struggle for unity among the disparate Jewish communities in the context of other peoples and religions) continued to resonate strongly.